Monday, May 5, 2014

Queen Village Burial Ground a Hot Topic

IGNATIUS
BECK, a freed former slave, had a life story that nearly rivals that of Solomon
Northup, the free man kidnapped and sold into slavery who was the subject of
the movie "12 Years a Slave."

Beck
came to Philadelphia from Maryland in 1805 and was a member of Mother Bethel
A.M.E. Church in 1810, when, according to historian Terry Buckalew, he was
duped into traveling south for a business venture.

Beck
spent two years re-enslaved in Virginia before he was able to escape and return
to Philadelphia.

He
is one of 5,000 people whose bodies lie in the old Bethel Burying Ground
beneath the Weccacoe Playground, on Catharine Street near 4th, in Queen
Village.

At
6:30 tonight at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter's
chief of staff, Everett Gillison, will host what might be a contentious meeting
about how to commemorate the spot while also moving forward with planned
renovations to the playground.

The
Rev. Richard Allen, founder of Mother Bethel church, at 6th and Lombard
streets, purchased the cemetery in 1810. The church sold it to the city in
1889.

For
months, tensions have been simmering between two factions over the burial
ground. Both sides agree that it should be commemorated, but they disagree over
the future of a community center above it.

"Queen
Village Neighbors Association is going around telling people we are trying to
take their playground from their children," said Joseph Certaine, a former
city managing director who is the spokesman for the coalition Friends of Bethel
Burying Ground.

He
said the center is leased to the association, which rents it out for birthday
parties and other activities.

Certaine
and lawyer-activist Michael Coard want the building dismantled and the cemetery
fenced off.

"Our
concern is the burial ground itself and the activity on top of it,"
Certaine said. "We want them to cease activity in the building."

The
other side - including Queen Village Neighbors Association, Mother Bethel
A.M.E. Church and descendants of Richard Allen - says the playground should be
renovated and the building used to teach the history of the cemetery and life
in Philadelphia in the 19th century.

Duncan
Spencer, president of Friends of Weccacoe Playground and a board member of Queen
Village Neighbors Association, said he wants the association to stop renting
out the center.

He
said the group is barely breaking even on a $130 rental fee - after paying for
insurance, a staffer to open and close, and cleaning up after parties.

"Our
biggest vision for the building is for a place to house the memorial for the
cemetery," Spencer said.

Spencer
said his coalition would love to see it used for an after-school program.

"We
want to have a place where latchkey kids can come to have a safe environment to
have access to computers, do their homework and recreate outside."

Each
side has accused the other of ramping up "agitation" over the issue.

Spencer
said that historian Buckalew, who is white, has said the city would not allow
people to walk over a historically white cemetery.

"That's
not true," Spencer said. "If it's a desecration, then that has
implications all over the city.

He
said that both Washington Square and the new Sister Cities Park in Logan Square
are both above old cemeteries.

1 comment:

Have you ever looked up the history of Washington Square Park or any of the other numerous burial sites around the city? This is nothing new and cemeteries have been built upon for ages. Why now are people getting up in arms about this kind of thing?